16 minute read
Great Achievements
Walter P. Moore, Jr.
Computer Sophistication and National Prominence
By Richard G. Weingardt, P.E., Dist.M.ASCE, F.ACEC, D.Sc.h.c.
When Rice University presented Walter P. Moore, Jr. with its Distinguished Alumnus Award in 1995, it reported: “From the time he was a child, Walter knew he would be an engineer like his father. What he didn’t know was that someday he would equal his father’s success. Like his father, he has won three of the most prestigious awards a person can win for professional achievements: Rice’s Outstanding Engineering Alumnus, Engineer of the Year Region IV given by the Texas Society of Professional Engineers, and Rice’s Distinguished Alumnus this year. They are the first father and son to win all three awards.” In addition, Walter, Jr. was the recipient of a distinguished alumnus award from the University of Illinois and a member of the National Academy of Engineering. Asked if he had surpassed his father’s success, Walter, Jr., replied, “Hell, no. I am doing well just to match him. He [Walter, Sr.] came out of the Depression and, through a lot of hard work, created a firm that built things like the Rice Stadium. I came along when everyone knew who I was. But by the same token I moved the firm into the computer era and made it a national firm.” Moore took over the leadership of his father’s firm, Walter P Moore (WPM), in 1971 when the 69-year-old founder stepped down as president. At the time, the company was headquartered in Houston with a handful of smaller branch offices scattered around – and a bulging portfolio of impressive Texas projects. As his father’s understudy, Walter, Jr. was involved in many of the major ones, most notably the Miller Outdoor Theater, Six Flags AstroWorld, alterations to the Astrodome, and the Houston Hyatt Hotel, which officially debuted in 1972. At 401 feet, the Hyatt was (and is) Houston’s tallest hotel. For its crown, it has a roof-level revolving restaurant known as “Spindletop.” The hotel’s dramatic 30-story atrium was the backdrop for the 1976 Hollywood movie Logan’s Run. While president and later chairman of the board of WPM, Walter, Jr. was instrumental in leading the firm to national prominence in the design of high-rise buildings, sports facilities and other complex projects. In increasing and broadening the firm’s range of clients and ventures, and greatly improving its computer-design capabilities, he was intimately involved in the engineering of such noteworthy structures as the Pyramid Arena, Memphis, Tennessee; IBM Tower in Atlanta, Georgia; and NationsBank Corporate Plaza in Charlotte, North Carolina. When completed in 1987, the IBM Tower (now known as One Atlantic Center, with Johnson/Burgee as architects) was the tallest building in the Southeast at 825 feet. The NationsBank building (today called the Bank of America
Walter P. Moore, Jr. Courtesy of Walter P Moore.
Corporate Center, and designed by architect Cesar Pelli), when topped off at a height of 871 feet in 1992, garnered the title as the highest building in North Carolina. Walter, Jr. was born in Houston on May 6, 1937, to Walter and Zoe (McBride) Moore, the oldest of two boys. Following in his father’s footsteps, Walter, Jr. became a structural engineer while his younger brother, Robert Laurence (“Larry”), became a history professor. The young Moore brothers grew up a few blocks from Rice University and played along the shady tree-lined streets in the area. Walter, Jr. perfected his tennis game on the university’s clay courts and attended college football games at Rice Stadium, which was engineered by his father as were a number of other Rice campus structures. Many years later, when head of WPM, Walter, Jr. also engineered several Rice buildings, including Sewall Hall, Lovett College, the Mudd Computer Building, Anderson Hall, Jake Hess Tennis Facility, Herring Hall and the Duncan Building (Rice’s state-ofthe-art computational engineering facility). The entire Moore family studied at Rice. Walter, Jr.’s father graduated in 1927, while his mother Zoe attended the institution in 1926. His brother Larry graduated in 1962 and Walter, Jr. received a bachelor’s of art in civil engineering in 1959 and a bachelor’s of science in the same field in 1960. Throughout his life, Moore gave generously to his alma mater. He served as president of the Rice Alumni Association and the Rice Engineering Alumni Association, and on the board of the Rice Design Alliance and its Engineering Advisory Council. He was also an adjunct professor of architecture and served on the Architectural Advisory Council. continued on next page
One Atlantic Center, Atlanta, GA. Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons-Magnus Manske.
The easiest to use software for calculating wind, seismic, snow and other loadings for IBC, ASCE7, and all state codes based on these codes ($195.00). Tilt-up Concrete Wall Panels ($95.00). Floor Vibration for Steel Beams and Joists ($100.00). Concrete beams with torsion ($45.00).
Demos at: www.struware.com
Duncan Hall, Rice University, TX. Courtesy of Evelyn Weingardt.
Prior to college, while attending Houston’s Lamar High School, Walter, Jr. began dating Mary Ann Dillingham. She was a cheerleader and he played guard on the school’s basketball team, where his steady and dependable performance earned him the nickname “Rock.” The pair became high school sweethearts and later married, after she spent two years at Texas Christian University before transferring to the University of Houston to complete her degree in English and education. The young couple then moved north to Urbana, Illinois, where Walter, Jr. earned a Master of Science and a Doctor of Philosophy in structural engineering at the University of Illinois. After receiving those advanced degrees, Moore served as a captain in the U.S.
Army Corps of Engineers, then moved back to Houston where he joined his father’s thriving consulting engineering business. Moore’s entire career as a consulting structural engineer was spent with his dad’s firm, with all the plusses and minuses that come with being the son of the founder of the company.
He began at the bottom and moved up through all the necessary positions until he became president and chairman, just like his role-model father.
In 1994, while remaining chairman of the board, Moore relinquished his position as president of WPM and accepted a distinguished professorship in academia, at Texas A&M University in the College of Architecture and Department of Civil Engineering. He held the Thomas A. Bullock Endowed Chair in Leadership and Innovation, and was director of both the Center for Building Design and Construction and the Center for Construction Education. Along with his duties as a professor of both architecture and engineering at Texas A&M and as chairman of WPM, Moore also served on the Board of Directors of the CRS Center in Houston. With his extensive background in the design and construction industries, Moore believed that, in addition to theoretical analysis, future structural engineers and architects needed exposure to actual design and construction issues. He said, “What I do is bring real world problems and leadership situations to the students. A&M was founded not to just educate engineers, but to turn out leaders. That spirit seeps through into everything. Our students are immersed in a wide range of outside activities: church groups, engineering societies and the community. In my classes, part of a student’s grade is dependent on his or her presentations skills and how well they can communicate their solutions. They must spend time outside the classroom developing these skills. Their grade depends on it.” Moore also opined that engineering education should be modified to be more in line with that of the schools of architecture, law and medicine – a four-year undergraduate degree (with a
Bank of America Corporate Center, Charlotte, NC. Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons-Fife Club. Moore was widely published and a soughtafter speaker. He contributed his time and talent to numerous academic institutions and professional societies, serving on the national board of the American Concrete Institute (ACI), as vice president of the American Council of Engineering Companies (ACEC), and on the Executive Committee of the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH). Other professional organizations in which Moore was active included the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), the Society of American Military Engineers (SAME), the Consulting Engineers Council/ Texas (CEC/T), the International Association of Bridge and Structural Engineers (IABSE), the National Society of Professional Engineers (NSPE), and the Structural Engineers Association of Texas (SEAoT). Notable among Moore’s numerous awards, honors and recognitions were being named an Honorary Member of AIA, the Master Builder by the Associated General Contractors in 1995, and a Distinguished Member of ASCE. He was also the 1996 recipient of ASCE’s prestigious Edmund Friedman Award. Moore died on June 21, 1998, in Houston, from injuries suff ered in a terrible automobile accident. He was survived by his wife Mary Ann; his children Walter P. Moore III and his wife Sarah, Melissa (Moore) Magee and her husband Michael, and Matthew D. Moore and his wife Valerie; fi ve grandchildren; and his brother Larry and his wife Lauris. Since Moore’s passing, a number of national awards have been established in his name, among them: SEI’s Walter P. Moore, Jr. Award, SEAoT’s Walter P. Moore, Jr. Merit Scholarship, and ACI’s Walter P. Moore, Jr. Faculty Achievement Award.▪
Richard G. Weingardt, P.E., Chairman, Richard Weingardt Consultants, Inc., Denver, CO. He is the author of nine books. Two of his latest, Circles in the Sky: Th e Life and Times of George Ferris and Engineering Legends, both published by ASCE Press, feature the exploits of great American structural engineers who had signifi cant infl uence on the progress of the nation. His current book nearing completion, Empire Man, is about Homer Balcom, the structural engineer for the Empire State Building. Mr. Weingardt can be reached at rweingardt@weingardt.com.
diverse collection of subjects) followed by a concentrated two- or three-year master’s (or professional) degree in engineering. He stated, “Th at type of education would turn out engineers much more in tune to the world around them, which is an advantage young architects and lawyers have over engineers.” In the future, said Moore, “Engineers must take a leadership role, not just an advisory role, in the proper use and development of technology. Engineers need to prepare themselves for this expanded role in society. Decisions are constantly being made by those who have no scientifi c or engineering backgrounds. Engineers need to become more visible so that ordinary citizens in our society desire, or even demand, that technology decisions come primarily from engineers. It is time for engineers to redirect their eff ort and energy in order to assume responsibility for our nation’s future – not to leave our society’s destiny totally in the hands of academics, bureaucrats, politicians and others who lack technical expertise.”
STEEL/COLD-FORMED STEEL PRODUCTS GUIDE
a defi nitive listing of steel/cold-formed steel product manufacturers/distributors and their product lines
Suppliers
Atlas Tube
Phone: 800-733-5683 Email: sales@atlastube.com Web: www.atlastube.com Product: Atlas Tube Description: Atlas Tube is known throughout North America for our capabilities in Hollow Structural Sections (HSS), the quality and breadth of our product lines, our capacity, and our exceptional product and technical expertise. Atlas Tube is a division of JMC Steel Group.
ClarkDietrich
Phone: 513-870-1100 Email: info@clarkdietrich.com Web: www.clarkdietrich.com Product: MaxTrak® Description: MaxTrak Slotted Defl ection Track is a head-of-wall defl ection track used for framing exterior curtain walls and non-load bearing interior walls where vertical defl ection occurs. Allows vertical live load movement of the structure without transferring axial loads to the wall studs. This system provides savings by reducing the components required. Product: RedHeader RO Rough Opening System Description: RedHeader RO is designed for interior and exterior framing applications around non-load bearing doors and windows. Reduces the number of components required for a rough opening. Reduces onsite labor to assemble multiple rough openings by 50 percent. Pre-cut to customer order and painted red for easy identifi cation.
CMC Steel Products
Phone: 972-772-0769 Email: marketing@cmc.com Web: www.cmcsteelproducts.com Product: SMARTBEAM®, Castellated and Cellular Beams Description: CMC Steel Products manufactures the cellular and castellated SMARTBEAM – an innovative, economical and sustainable alternative for fl oor and roof framing systems. Manufactured from recycled materials, the beams are lightweight, have superior defl ection properties, and can integrate MEP systems through the web openings. SMARTBEAM – The Intelligent Alternative.
Simpson Strong-Tie
Phone: 925-560-9000 Email: web@strongtie.com Web: www.strongtie.com Product: Curtain-Wall Connectors for Cold-Formed Steel Description: Our new line of slide-clip and fi xed-clip connectors for use with curtain-wall steel stud framing provide designers with a total design solution, including the load values of the connector and its anchorage to the structure. The wide selection of connectors minimizes calculations and accommodates many bypass-framing applications and stand-off conditions. Product: SUBH Bridging Connector for Cold-Formed Steel Description: The new SUBH wall-stud bridging connector has been extensively lab tested as a system, ensuring the tabulated design values refl ect stud web size and thickness. It requires only one screw for most installations and has superior rotational and axial pullthrough resistance to meet AISI S100 Sections D.3.2.1 and D3.3 requirements.
Valmont Industries
Phone: 402-359-2201 Email: kyle.debuse@valmont.com Web: www.hsssuperstruct.com Product: HSS Superstruct Description: Now you have the fl exibility to design using square and rectangular HSS tubing between 12-inch square and 50-inch square, up to 1-inch thick walls and 55 feet long.
Coatings
Atlas Tube
Phone: 800-733-5683 Email: sales@atlastube.com Web: www.atlastube.com Product: Epox Z Kote Powder Primed Tubing Description: Epox Z Kote is a high performance, super-tough, super-thin epoxy powder coat primer. Ordinary primers are 2 to 4/1000 of an inch thick (2.0 to 4.0 mil). Our new epoxy powder primer is less than 1/1000 of an inch (0.5 mil) and accepts laser cutting and welding operations.
Software
Bentley Systems
Phone: 317-664-8890 Email: katherine.fl esh@bentley.com Web: www.bentley.com Product: RAM Elements, STAAD.Pro and RAM Structural System Description: The most comprehensive structural products anywhere. Bentley’s fl exible and scalable software allow seamless workfl ow of analysis, design, detailing, documentation and BIM data. Product: RAM, STAAD, ProSteel Description: Analysis and steel design of buildings, bridges, plants, and civil structures, as well as detailing products for structural steel.
CSC, Inc.
Phone: 877-710-2053 Email: sales@cscworld.com Web: www.cscworld.com Product: Fastrak Description: The essential design and drafting software for steel buildings. Design simple or complex steel buildings to US codes. Produce clear and concise documentation including drawings and calculations. Design any simple or complex steel buildings to US codes. Work with real physical objects such as beams, columns and slabs.
Design Data
Phone: 402-441-4000 Email: marnett@sds2.com Web: www.sds2connect.com Product: SDS/2 Connect Description: SDS/2 Connect enables structural engineers using Revit Structure for BIM to intelligently design steel connections and produce detailed documentation on those connections. SDS/2 Connect is the only product that enables structural engineers to design and communicate connections based on their Revit Structure design model as part of the fabrication process.
Devco Software, Inc.
Phone: 541-426-5713 Email: rob@devcosoftware.com Web: www.devcosoftware.com Product: LGBEAMER v8 Description: Analyze and design cold-formed cee, channel and zee sections. Uniform, concentrated, partial span and axial loads. Single and multi-member designs. 2007 NASPEC (2009 IBC) compliant. Pro-Tools include shearwalls, framed openings, X-braces, joists and rafters.
Digital Canal
Phone: 800-449-5033 Email: clint@digitalcanal.com Web: www.digitalcanal.com Product: Steel Design Description: NEW Steel Design supports AISC 13th Edition, ASD 9th and LRFD 2nd Editions. Incredibly detailed “hand calculation” reports are a “must have” to learn the new AISC code! Steel Design is available in single member beam/column modules as well as full-featured frame/FEA programs.
Dimensional Solutions, Inc.
Phone: 281-497-5991 Email: Info@DimSoln.com Web: www.dimsoln.com Product: Mat3D Description: Mat3D completes soil and pile supported mat/pile cap designs supporting multiple load points, in an integrated environment that takes you from concept to construction in minutes. Enhance your productivity from input to construction drawings and 3D foundation modeling in popular CAD/modeling engines for industrial, commercial, petrochemical foundation design projects. Product: Foundation Design Suite Description: Foundation Design Suite components are integrated, single program solutions that quickly complete soil/pile supported foundation design from concept to construction drawings to modeling in minutes. The suite includes DSAnchor, Shaft3D, Mat3D, Foundation3D, and Combined3D. You can experience signifi cant time savings and increased productivity by visiting our website. continued on next page
Phone: 800-707-0816 Email: sales@iesweb.com Web: www.iesweb.com Product: VisualAnalysis Description: IES VisualAnalysis automates the design of cold-formed, steel, wood, concrete, and aluminum beams, columns, and framing for anything from simple members to complete, complex structures. A modern and intuitive user interface simplifi es modeling, analysis, design, and reporting. For more information visit our website.
Nemetschek Scia
Phone: 877-808-7242 Email: usa@scia-online.com Web: www.scia-online.com Product: Scia Engineer Description: Scia Engineer links structural modeling, analysis, design, drawings and reports in ONE program, so a change anywhere is refl ected everywhere. Centralize design tasks with static, nonlinear, and dynamic analysis. Design to multiple codes and for multiple materials. Plug into BIM with IFC support, and links with Revit, Tekla, and others.
POSTEN Engineering Systems
Phone: 510-275-4750 Email: sales@postensoft.com Web: www.postensoft.com Product: TaperSTEEL Description: TaperSTEEL is Steel Design with LEED in mind. Sustainable design and cost saving in steel go hand in hand. Simply get the most out of the steel. TaperSTEEL quickly and easily allows you to design I shaped steel plate girders and beams with varying web depth & varying fl ange width.
RISA Technologies
Phone: 949-951-5815 Email: info@risatech.com Web: www.risa.com Product: RISAFloor Description: Get the most out of your steel designs with RISAFloor and RISA-3D. The ability to use multiple materials in one FEA model makes these programs your fi rst choice for both hot rolled and cold formed steel. With 16 steel databases and 21 steel codes RISA has all your bases covered.
S-FRAME Software, Inc.
Phone: 203-421-4800 Email: info@s-frame.com Web: www.s-frame.com Product: S-PAD™ Description: A steel-member design and optimization application for small consulting engineering fi rms. Easy to use with advanced code-checking capabilities and auto-design to multiple design codes (AISC, CSA, EU, BS) for both strength and serviceability of columns, beams, and braces without the need to build complete detailed models. Free trials available.
All Resource Guides and Updates for the 2012 Editorial Calendar are now available on the website, www.STRUCTUREmag.org. Listings are provided as a courtesy. STRUCTURE® magazine is not responsible for errors.
ADVERTISEMENT - For Advertiser Information, visit www.STRUCTUREmag.org Phone: 800-366-5585 Email: info@standardsdesign.com Web: www.standardsdesign.com Product: Wind Loads on Stuctures 4 Description: WLS4 performs all wind load computations in ASCE 7-98, 02 or 05, Section 6 and ASCE 7-10, Chapters 26-31. Program allows user to “build” structures within the system, provides basic wind speeds from a built-in version of wind speed map(s) or enter wind speed, provides for input of topographic features.
StrucSoft Solutions
Phone: 514-731-0008 Email: info@strucsoftsolutions.com Web: www.strucsoftsolutions.com Product: MWF Description: Light gauge metal and wood framing application running inside Autodesk Revit. Frames walls, fl oors and ceilings.
USP Structural Connectors
Phone: 800-328-5934 Email: info@uspconnectors.com Web: www.uspconnectors.com Product: USP Specifi er Description: Quick Connector Search to quickly fi nd the connectors you need for any application using simple search parameters. Rapidly perform accurate product conversions between various products so you can optimize savings. Easily customize the search parameters you commonly use to streamline the tool and maximize your productivity.
Preserve Your Project Before It’s Even Built.
Galvanizing is Thinking Big Picture.
Hot-dip galvanizing with AZZ Galvanizing Services is the best way to ensure that your project will stand the test of time, saving money in costly maintenance repairs later. And since using eco-friendly zinc is less expensive than other corrosion barriers, the cost savings begin before the construction does — and will extend the life of the structure. Save money now and in the big picture.
